‘Pochettino is great – but sometimes he gets his tactics wrong’

Mauricio Pochettino: Only needs 50 seconds

Tottenham fans debate Christian Eriksen’s fading star, while Jose Mourinho’s jealousy, Liverpool’s summer spending and Arsenal’s team to face Bayern Munich are also discussed.

If you’d like to join the debate, we’d love to hear from you. Our Your Says boards are waiting for your voice right here.

 

Does Pochettino need to drop Tottenham’s ‘comfy’ stars?

Poch is as liable for Saturday’s loss at Liverpool as some of Tottenham’s players.

One thing I think we all agree on is that Ben Davies is really really poor. He is a better LCB in a three pairing as shown at the Euros than a full back however he isn’t as the level we need. Required: One new LB. Dier had a poor game but since he has dropped into defence albeit a shaky start has been relatively composed in the role. One player I am furious at is Son, I would go as far as to say that he lack of positional discipline cost us the game as it left a poor LB horrendously exposed. This is where Lamela is sorely missed, he can switch flank but never forgets his defensive duties. We need his creativity and tenacity too, natural aggression which all top players have. I would of had Walker-Peters/Tripper in the LB role rather than Davies.

Why didn’t GKN play? This confuses me so much as the guy is very talented and would of brought width to our play as a natural winger. Why is Eriksen starting? Winks could play further up and as much as I like Christian he has been ever so poor with free-kicks, corners and general play. Don’t let the assists mask inept performances.

Poch needs to freshen up the team by dropping a few that are too comfortable in the starting XI.

thekickoff

 

Don’t me wrong I love Poch, what he has done to our club is nothing short of a miracle but away from home it can’t always be the high line and press. The space we allowed Liverpool in behind was shocking, second half we dropped 10/15 yrds and all off a sudden we looked better. United scored against us the same way, we lose the ball on the Half way line and mittarying (terrible spelling i know) is running into 30 yrs of space 1 on 1 with the keeper.

Against better teams with pace and quick thinking players I think Poch needs to change tactics. At the moment which ever formation he chooses it’s all about the press, maybe sometimes it’s better to air on the side of caution.

TKO .. Also I think the tactics on Saturday made everyone look poor, Liverpool players would not allow us to breathe on the ball hence players were getting taught out of position time after time. I would say this again, Sissoko i haven’t really got a judgement on him either way yet so I would love to see him starting now. he hasn’t played much, fresh legs just what we need i think. It’s just a matter of finding his position now.

lucksterk

 

Herrera a steady 7 for Man Utd – but does he do enough?

Herrera has done well for us – he performs well in matches, a constant 7 or 7.5 out of 10 sort of player – however I’ve noticed that he can be very frustrating at times and I can’t help but feel that he can be one of the reasons we’re not as great as we can be.

I’ll explain – there are a number of times where I’ve seen us try to start a counter attack and, when the ball is passed to him, the ball either bobbles slightly when he controls it or he pulls the ball backwards and passes back to a defender. In the context of things it’s fine – we’ve kept possession and it’s all good – however we lose a second or two which I can’t help but feel that Scholes, Keane, Fletcher or Carrick of old would control that ball perfectly and get it down the wing ASAP for us to get the counter going at lightning speed. It’s these little things that I’ve noticed about him which makes me think that he has a place in our squad for as long as he’s playing this way however, if we truly want to take the step up to Barcelona’s or Real Madrid’s of this world, we need a truly top class player next to Pogba.

I can compare him to Smalling – he does his job well and gets the plaudits coz he does a good job – another 7 or 7.5 out of 10 player too – however when you see what Bailly and, to a lesser extent, Jones have done this season you begin to think “ah ok, Smalling is good but these guys have a little bit more in their tank and improve our team”.

sympathyforthedevils

 

Back in the day, Herrera would have been known as a ‘water carrier’. Remember the famous player having the almighty ‘fight’ with Sir Alex regarding one same water carrier ? And the mother of all arguments over here when some tried in vain to uplift to the same standard as the one and only Keane ?

Herrera is one such player,honest,always applicable to the manager’s whims and whiffs,loyal,wears the shirt with pride and much more but never an ultimate quality concern.

And of course that every manager has his favourites. Remember Sir ousting 2 world class performers simply because they somehow thought fit to tangle with his favourite player ?

These type of players become the fans favourites basically for their limited assets which is fair enough.Herrera could be changed for D.Drinkwater of Leicester or A.Arter of Bournemouth and you would get the 7/7.5 related performance.

The whole point is that United demand and require much more quality,aka Kante, as the 7 markup is just average rating not the best.

emmicelef

 

Liverpool need quality and quantity this summer

While we all laugh and remember some of the terrible players Liverpool had over the years, it’s worth recalling Roy Hodgson signed some squad players who were cover and cover only – and people freaked out about them not being good enough. . . well they weren’t, but they were good enough as basic cover.

We could really do with this mentality now as we head into summer. We obviously need a lot of quality but I imagine that we’ll sign some backup players too – especially if we reach the CL.

There is another discussion that goes from this regarding how FSG have handled our backup and it’s definitely a topic worth exploring.

MrMakaveli

 

Mak, I’d like to see our youth players given a good look at, prior to signing squad players who are there as cover and nothing else. But there is no doubt we will need some more faces for next season as the squad is quite threadbare – and sadly this season the youth players haven’t done enough in the FA cup to give themselves opportunities to impress. I’m not too sure which are ready to step up if I’m honest, despite signs of promise. Ojo and TAA seem the closest right now, kev Stewart and danny ward…maybe that Allan Rodriguez young Brazilian guy will get his work permit this summer? I will be surprised to see someone like chirivella make it, he’s probably as skinny as I am!

Haha Erik meijer – did we sign him around the time we signed titi camara and hyypia? I remember being so happy for him at finally scoring his first goal(s) then nothing else followed! Bit like Joe cole I guess…

ian2105

 

Ozil hands Bayern the advantage/ Xhaka a tortoise in disguise

Mesut Ozil: Is struggling for form

Ozil!? Against Bayern!!? Right now!!? Clear numerical advantage for the opponent then. We are going to need speed, graft n be a bit unpredictable.

My team:
Ospina.
Bellerin. Mustafi. Kos. Gibbs
Xhaka. Elneny
Ox. Iwobi. Sanchez
Danny

Onenightstand Love

 

Xhaka is a passenger, the pace of the game will leave him behind, he is a tortoise in disguise. I wouldn’t risk Ozil either, he will bottle it against Bayern as he has done before. Play those two and it could be as many as 5 goals going into our net. We will lose whatever team Wenger picks but the one you are suggesting stev2bath1 and one nightstand will get slaughtered.

The Oracle

 

Mourinho secretly claiming his Chelsea was better than Conte’s

Jose Mourinho: Responded to Ferdinand

Mourinho’s claims that Conte’s Chelsea are ‘boring’ is a little bit rich when this certain manager chooses to park the bus.

The one thing I would say in Jose’s defence, when Chelsea first won their PL title back in 2005, for me, there was a wonderful array of players in that squad and refreshing to watch.

Some great individual players down the years, and the 2009/10 squad involving Drogba and Anelka were one of the best.

One particular similarity I have noticed in relation to Conte’s Chelsea is that a lot of the time, it is 1-0, 2-0 then shutting up shop and banking those 3 points. This was the prime factor that steered Chelsea to winning the Premier League back in 2005 with only 1 defeat to their name, and over 90 points accumulated.

Maybe Jose’s trying to illustrate he is better and he had the better Chelsea side?

sensibleS7

 

This is another example of the negative side to Mourinho. It’s clear he is jealous of Chelsea winning the league and he’s an incredibly sore loser so he is taking digs at Conte.

I imagine him waking up at ungodly hours in a cold sweat, haunted by the nightmare of being in 6th position despite being on the longest unbeaten run in Europe’s top 5 leagues. I don’t mind Mourinho’s petty digs and unsavoury comments – he’s a top, top manager and I have seen his impact already – I’ll take his flaws as well as his virtues.

Hatters

Does Mourinho actually say Conte is boring? He said Chelsea were defensive and win with counter attacks.

He’s a very bitter man who can’t stand the fact that he was sacked by Chelsea twice and therefore acts like a spoiled child. He’s better off playing mind games with Bilic than he is with Conte given the current gap between the teams.

Manthistle

 

Is Mourinho in danger of losing Chelsea fans’ respect?

Jose is still the most successful manager ever at Chelsea. For that alone he will always command my respect and even love

However, and to re-iterate exactly what Liquidator stated, I support Chelsea before and above everything else. Any manager is only in situ for a period of time and as such they all get my support. But at the end of the day they are just the manager of what I consider to be the greatest football Club in the world

I do not expect anything more or less from Jose as he has a job to do at ManU so I see no reason for him to come out about undying love of our Club. Yet, based on historical comments, I believe that he does still hold a place for the Club in his heart

I fully accept that I do see the antics of Jose in a different light now but that does not mean that I will suddenly turn on him.

Conte is a different guy and I have to say a breath of fresh air and I would suggest that his style and demeanor will bring back a lot of floating fans to “liking” Chelsea again. His passion, his style of football and the way he conducts himself portrays a much nicer and softer approach than Jose which I think we all appreciate. KTBFFH

CFC1905

 

Slightly off topic mate, but i think Mourinho is doing a brilliant job at Man Utd. We are playing phenomenal football, I’mm seeing something I’ve missed from jose’s teams.. quality and style. Yes I know were 6th and we may not even finish 4th (money spent) but I think its there to see. I would say apart from the bridge game, we have played really good, created chance after chance. Missed ridiculous sitters,keepers motm awards. Next year is the acid test. What do u think?

fergiesarmy

 

City showing stronger mentality / Sane is going to be a beast

There is a stronger mentality about City these last few games. Silva is just magical, I love watching him, always something happening when he is on the ball. Of the three young lads up front I think Sane is technicaly the best, I am sure Jesus will excite us like Kun, Sterlings work ethic has been terrific, he just needs to work on his first touch and he would score a lot more. Not sure I like fernandinho in the full back role and how much safer we look with Willy in goal, for me, he has to be first choice now. KDB quietly getting on with his game and producing some wonderful passes and a improvement from John Stones. I really hope Kun stays with us…

Brian blue

 

Good performance, kept them at arms length and defended as well as any team.

Thought Caballero again was outstanding with his use of the ball, I’m sure he used to be just as bad as Hart with it so credit due for assuming he has been working hard on it.

Aguero, hopefully he was sulking a little, as the contrast between him and Jesus was staggering

mcfc-psychology

 

Good result and a fairly good effort sorry that Jesus got injured But it feels pretty nice to have a player like Aguero to throw in and thats the way it should be IF you want to be one of the bigger teams.
Sterling MoM But Sane is going to be a beast so fast and technical he is going to be a joy to watch.
And i got to say sorry to Davis Silva i have critise him this season But he looks to be back at his best so good yesterday.

spang

 

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